As I’ve been making my way slowly to level 50 (no, I’m still not there yet), there have been a lot of things that caught my attention. Some enormous, some teeny. Some brought a smile, some amazement. All are brilliant. Today I’ll share some of the things that were pleasant surprises for me.

More after the jump…

I don’t remember where I was exactly. Some cut-scene early on. I do remember the grass or foliage of some kind moving back and forth in a breeze. I thought it was very cool, completely unexpected and added a dimension I haven’t noticed in an MMORPG before.

I like how my character moves with my speeder. It gives me a feeling of real movement. I also like how her arms and hands are in different places, depending on the type of vehicle she is driving. No stock “driving” pose for SWTOR. Hands on the controls get a +1 from me.

It’s cool to be able to visit a party member’s ship. So far, I’ve gotten to visit two other ships and I loved the experience. I played tourist and explored gleefully. While I like all of them and think all three I’ve seen are awesome, I must say Imperial Agent ships really rock. My own Sith Inquisitor and the Bounty Hunter ships are great, but there was something special about the layout of the Agent’s ship.

Traveling from planet to planet gives me the feeling of being in the Star Wars galaxy. I usually like the travel on planet, with some exceptions that I will go into another time. Speeders on Tatooine especially rock, reminding me of pod races. I can see going back there from time to time just to take the taxi.

Some of the scenery is nothing short of fabulous. The first speeder ride across Voss was simply amazing. I love the vistas and bigness of the worlds and there’s only been one planet I wasn’t fond of so far. The detail in trees, landscapes and – well basically everything – is incredible.

There was an interesting reflection of light on the roads of Belsavis that I found interesting. It made me wonder what material the road was made of. Reflections in general are very well done. I also like the juxtaposition of the greenery against the ice and snow on Belsavis.

Being able to repair at any vendor is a relief and those wonderful medical droids that pop up at out of the way places are wonderful.

The music is perfect for the game and I’m glad I have both the CE soundtrack and the one we were able to download. I listen to those quite often, so I have more of the music ingame.

The different architectures are simply stunning. The patterns, writing, shapes, colors and textures come together to truly create alien cultures and worlds that are great just for touring. I particularly love Alderaan’s Thul Palace, but then I really enjoyed my time on that planet in general. Visually it is a gorgeous game.

Something many of us forget to do is look up. We might when we’re outside and notice the color of the sky, cloud patterns or such, but inside is a different story and we often don’t. I had forgotten on a lot of planets, but I remembered recently and was rewarded by a continuation of the rich detail seen everywhere else. The ceilings I noticed were complete with moldings, shadows and light, patterns and color that looked very realistic. I’ll be stopping to look up a lot more often now I’ve remembered.

The giant windows that look out onto a planet are another fabulous visual and I will probably be back to visit those in the future. I imagine it could be very relaxing to just sit and watch the world turn from space.

That’s my two credits on some of the things I enjoy. What’s yours? What are some of the surprises you enjoy?

The first little thing I noticed that really tied the game to the SW universe for me and made me smile was the wookiee sitting across the holo chess table from a droid with no arms in the cantina on Hutta.